1 Introduction

This section introduces the enthusiasm for exploration of Asia and other regions among European intellectuals in the late 19th and early 20th centuries. The French writer Victor Segalen traveled to China multiple times, producing a substantial body of work set in China. Using *René Leys* as an example, it elaborates on the plot where the narrator encounters female figures while exploring the Forbidden City and the secrets of Emperor Guangxu, pointing out a connection between the "self" and the "other." It also mentions that this paper will analyze the narrator's romantic experiences with foreign women and the differences from the author's own thinking.

2 Encounters with Images of Chinese Women: Attempts at Love Across Eastern and Western Differences

Through the narrator "Segalen's" encounters with three Chinese women, this section explores attempts at love across Eastern and Western differences. His encounter with Caiyu is complicated by her dual identity, leading Segalen to withdraw out of fear of having his inner self seen through. His acquaintance with Minister Wang's wife progresses from misunderstanding to anticipation, only to be abruptly cut off. Although he never directly meets Empress Dowager Longyu, she is constructed as an object of romantic fantasy in his mind through René Leys's descriptions, a fantasy that ultimately shatters with René Leys's death. In his interactions with these women, Segalen continually questions the possibility of love between a European man and an Eastern woman, ultimately seeming to offer a negative answer.

3 Examining Images of Chinese Women: The European Gaze of "Innocence and Guiltlessness"

This section explores the Eurocentric attitudes displayed by the narrator during his encounters with different Chinese women. By analyzing the narrator's interactions with Caiyu, Madame Wang, and René Leys, it reveals the behavioral pattern of "passively observing and possessing" hidden beneath an appearance of "innocence and guiltlessness." This pattern corresponds to the phenomenon of "anti-conquest" mentioned by Pratt in *Imperial Eyes*, where the narrator, assuming the role of a "spectator," scrutinizes and compares Eastern women, placing them in a subordinate and inferior position, reflecting the superiority sought by the West in its relationship with the East. Furthermore, the narrator's shift from desire to rational analysis regarding Madame Wang, and his suspicion and interrogation of the stories told by René Leys, further demonstrate his "primitivizing" treatment of foreign women, highlighting the essence of his Eurocentric ideology.

4 China, Women: In Search of Self Within the "Exotic"

This section delves into the complex attitudes and journey of self-discovery of the writer Victor Segalen and the narrator "Segalen" in his work *René Leys* when confronting China as the "exotic," under the influence of Eurocentrism. On one hand, the author criticizes the "impressionistic tourist" stance often adopted by European travelers, while the narrator in the work exhibits this tendency, revealing a clear divergence between the two. Segalen's theory of "diversity" (*divers*) occupies a central place in his literary creation. The city of Beijing, as a representative space of "diversity," exerts a powerful attraction on the narrator with its rich cultural elements. The narrator attempts to explore his self by connecting with the imperial palace, even fantasizing about becoming the emperor. However, in his interactions with the three Chinese women, the narrator chooses self-preservation over embracing the other, gradually turning inward and becoming self-enclosed. In contrast, Segalen himself, through his work, demonstrates an open and inclusive attitude, accepting the other. As history changed towards the end of the Qing Dynasty and Eastern and Western political systems converged, the narrator's abandonment of his self-search and eventual disappointment also reflect the author's underlying anxiety about the collapse of a world of "diversity."

5 Conclusion

This section discusses the experiences of the narrator "Segalen" in *René Leys*, who travels to late-Qing Beijing in 1911 to investigate the affairs of Emperor Guangxu. His encounters with women such as Caiyu, Madame Wang, and Empress Dowager Longyu unfold from a Eurocentric "anti-conquest" perspective, yet his self-enclosure prevents him from deeply exploring his self. The author Victor Segalen uses this to illustrate a journey of self-search. The Forbidden City is the center of "diversity," and the encounters with women are microcosms of this exploration, but the narrator fails to embrace the other. Segalen frequently expounds on the "self" in his other works. For instance, in *The Secret History of the Son of Heaven*, he temporarily touches upon the self by transcending time through the persona of Emperor Guangxu, while in *Stèles* he chooses to preserve the mystery of "name." He might be providing a counterexample through *René Leys*, reminding readers to avoid arbitrary framing and resistance towards the exotic, and warning himself against falling into traps of self-perception during exploration.